"Sisska!" Keritanima called happily, bounding into the room. She hedged in on Binter and held her hands out to the massive female, who was nearly twice her height, who gently took them in greeting. "Did things go well? Are you tired? Would you like to rest? What did the sashka say?"

"Calmly, Highness," she soothed. "The sashka has come."

Keritanima gaped at her. Bringing the king of Vendaka to Wikuna was not what she had in mind! She had pushed it by asking for the Vendari, but to have to explain herself to the king of her people! She wondered if Sisska could break her neck and make it painless.

"Sisska, I didn't mean for you to bring the sashka!" she gasped. "He'll kill me when he finds out who summoned his troops!"

"He knows who summoned my people," Sisska replied calmly. "When I asked for the warriors, he demanded the truth. I cannot disobey sashka . I told him."

"You told him?" Keritanima said in a strangled voice as Miranda and Azakar entered the room. Azakar kept his eyes averted from her Highness' exposed posterior, working around so he looked at her from the side.

"I also told him of your plan."

Keritanima felt like she was about to faint. Any second now, she expected Sisska to grab her by the head and crush her like an eggshell. The sashka would probably reserve the honor of killing her for himself, however. So she had a few more minutes to live.

"He considered the situation for many nights, and then he decided that yours was the higher honor," she continued calmly. "Long have the Vendari considered Damon Eram a dishonorable king, who brought shame to his crown and his people, and because we are subject to his power, brought shame upon us. When I praised your honor and your worth as queen, he decided that you would serve our honor better than your father. He is not here to stir up trouble, as I think you hoped we would have. He is here to put you on the throne."

Keritanima very nearly fainted at that. "He's supporting me?" she said weakly. "His oaths of fealty-"

"They were broken when Damon Eram dishonored us," Sisska explained.

"When did he do that?" Keritanima asked curiously.

"The day he tried to order us to kill you," she told her with unwavering eyes.

Keritanima stared up at her blankly. "He tried what?" she asked in a dangerous voice.

"Your father tried to order us to kill you," she repeated. "Because we are trusted by you. But to do such a thing to a child is the worst dishonor, and we refused."

"You never told me about this!" she accused loudly, yanking her hands out of Sisska's.

"Because he ordered us not to," she replied. "Now that he no longer commands us, we no longer have to obey his orders."

"Did he-" Keritanima started, looking at Binter, but the massive Vendari simply nodded.

"I'm going to-he's really not- rrrrrrrrrrraaauuuggghhhh!" she screamed furiously, slamming her hands to her sides as her eyes began to burn with irrational hatred. Had he really gone that far, to try to have her Vendari bodyguards kill her? What was he thinking? He had to know that they'd refuse, because they could bring no harm to those they protected! But to think that he'd go that far-it was an insult at the most personal and deepest level!

Sisska put her huge hands on Keritanima's shoulders, effectively pinning her in place. "Do not get excited, Highness," she said soothingly. "Nobody will get away with anything. Sashka is waiting for your commands."

That brought her back to some sense of control. She reached down and pulled her nightshirt down daintily, which just rode right back up when her tail started slashing the air behind her. "Tell sashka to quarter his troops, and be silent about why they're here and who summoned them. There are some things I have to do before he can move."

Sisska nodded. "I expected that to be. I will return to sashka and give him your commands."

"Binter, go with her," Keritanima ordered. "I won't stand in the way of your reunion. Azakar will guard us til you return."

"My thanks, Highness," Binter said simply. "Defend them with honor, mizsa."

Keritanima gave Azakar a slight smile. Binter had just called him "brother," about the highest honor he could receive. Azakar just gave him an eloquent nod, and turned to get into his armor.

"You're looking very well, Sisska," Miranda greeted. "It looks like the time on the road was good for you."

"Three months of hard travel is always good for a Vendari," she said simply. "How have things fared in my absence?"

"Rather well," Miranda grinned. "Keritanima is all but running the Palace, she has the city wrapped around her finger, and she has everyone thinking that her father is crazy."

"In other words, things are normal," Sisska said with just a hint of a smile.

First Binter, and now Sisska makes a joke? What was going on in Vendaka?

"More like on schedule," Miranda winked. "And we're getting down the the last few items on the list here. Let Zak steel himself, and then we'll go get the Chamberlain, Kerri," she told the fox Wikuni. "That should give you time to dress. Unless you want to take your clothes off in front of him again, that is."

"Things must have been interesting while I was away," Sisska noted.

"I'll tell you about is as we go to sashka, Binter promised.

"Just leave out the embarassing parts!" Keritanima told him as she turned to go back into her bedroom.

"Which were those, Highness?" Binter asked directly.

"Oh, nevermind!" she snorted, but her mind was racing. The Vendari were here, and they were on her side! That was incredibly wonderful news. She had still been having nightmares over something going wrong and the Vendari finding out who had summoned them, and for what purpose. They would have killed her immediately. But now things had to move fast, very fast, making the holding games she had been playing all fly out the window. She had to have everything in place by tonight. There was no other choice in the matter. By tonight, her father would have tried to summon the commander of the Vendari complement and found out why there were there. Vendari being who they were, they'd tell him exactly why they were there. And she didn't think her father would take kindly to hearing from the king of Vendaka that he was there to kick him off the throne. It could start a very bloody civil war, and that was something that Keritanima needed to avoid at all costs.

Keritanima opened the little hidden cubby in the fireplace and drew out the satchel of papers. She filed through them and pulled out a stack of parchment, twenty-eight pages. She then addressed them one by one, folded and sealed them with her personal crest, and set them methodically on the table in order. Each one was addressed to the current head of the other twenty-eight noble houses, and each one said exactly the same thing. She replaced the satchel and checked the seals, and then wrote the name of the recipient of each letter under her crest after ensuring that the seal was good.

She was on the last few when the Chamberlain entered her room. He looked very uncomfortable, mainly because nobody outside of the Princess' inner circle had ever seen her personal bedchamber. Such a momentous occasion made him wonder if she had had him summoned in there so she wouldn't have very far to drag the body.

"Good," she said without looking up. "I've been waiting for you, Lord Chamberlain."

"What business do you have with me, your Highness?"

"I want you to deliver these messages for me, my Lord Chamberlain," she said calmly, not bothering to look at him as she addressed the last one, then set it aside so the ink could dry.

"Why me?"

"Because you are the Lord Chamberlain," she said simply. "If anyone else delivered the messages, they may not get to the people they're meant to go to. But if the Lord Chamberlain personally appears at someone's doorstep and hands them a message, it's going to be read right then and there."